Today photosynthesis is widely known across the globe, and with all of its reactions. It is often broken into two steps: the “light” reactions and the “dark” reactions. Both of these reactions are fundamental to the process of photosynthesis, and photosynthesis is vital for plants to survive. Because plants are the main energy source for organisms on Earth, and without them, we could not survive, photosynthesis is extremely important in the study of life, biology. Without Melvin Calvin, however, we might not know all the basics of what is sustaining life on Earth, which includes the “dark” reactions, and what even makes photosynthesis possible.

Melvin Calvin was an American biochemist who studied various fields of science. He made many important contributions to biology, and even more in the broad topic of science. Among his main interests were biology, chemistry, radiation chemistry, photochemistry, artificial photosynthesis, organic geochemistry, the origin of life, and uses of oils from plants for more energy sources. Of those many areas of research and experimentation, he made significant contributions of discovering the “dark” reactions/Calvin cycle, discovering the real source of energy for photosynthesis, separating immiscible solvents, helping with the biological safeties of the first landing on the moon, separating and decontaminating plutonium, and determining the structure for one of the Rh antigens. These contributions have all had a tremendous affect on science today, biology included.

Although Calvin made many accomplishments, as shown by the list above, he is most remembered for identifying most of the chemical reactions in the process of carbon dioxide being converted to carbohydrates. In order to understand the accomplishment of Melvin Calvin, photosynthesis must be understood at a basic level. Photosynthesis can be summarized into a few steps. First, sunlight or another form of light must reach the chlorophyll in the chloroplasts of a plant...

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...The Calvin Cycle
Plants use energy from the sun in tiny energy factories called chloroplasts. Using chlorophyll in the process of photosynthesis, they convert the sun's energy into storable form in ordered sugar molecules such as glucose. In this way, carbon dioxide from the air and water from the soil in a more disordered state are combined to form the more ordered sugar molecules.
Carbon dioxide is captured in a cycle of reactions known as the Calvin cycle or the Calvin-Benson cycle after its discoverers. It is also known as just the C3 cycle. Those plants that utilize just the Calvin cycle for carbon fixation are known as C3 plants. Carbon dioxide diffuses into the stroma of chloroplasts and combines with a five-carbon sugar, ribulose1,5-biphosphate (RuBP). The enzyme that catalyzes this reaction is referred to as RuBisCo, a large molecule that may be the most abundant organic molecule on the Earth. This catalyzed reaction produces a 6-carbon intermediate which decays almost immediately to form two molecules of the 3-carbon compound 3-phosphoglyceric acid (3PGA). The fact that this 3-carbon molecule is the first stable product of photosynthesis leads to the practice of calling this cycle the C3 cycle.
| In C3 plants the photosynthesis, carbon fixation and Calvin cycle all occur in a single chloroplast. |
In C4 plants the photosynthesis takes place in a chloroplast of a thin-walled...

...between two sets of reactions: the light reactions and the Calvin cycle. Chlorophyll and the other molecules responsible for the light reactions are built into the thylakoid membranes. The enzymes that catalyze the Calvin cycle are located in the stroma. Beginning with the absorption of light by chlorophyll, the light reactions convert light energy into chemical energy in the form of ATP and NADPH. The ATP provides the energy, and the NADPH supplies the electrons for the Calvin cycle, which converts carbon dioxide to sugar. The ADP and NADP+ that result from the Calvin cycle shuttle back to the light reactions, which regenerate ATP and NADPH. Photosynthesis depends on an interaction between two sets of reactions: the light reactions and the Calvin cycle. Chlorophyll and the other molecules responsible for the light reactions are built into the thylakoid membranes. The enzymes that catalyze the Calvin cycle are located in the stroma. Beginning with the absorption of light by chlorophyll, the light reactions convert light energy into chemical energy in the form of ATP and NADPH. The ATP provides the energy, and the NADPH supplies the electrons for the Calvin cycle, which converts carbon dioxide to sugar. The ADP and NADP+ that result from the Calvin cycle shuttle back to the light reactions, which regenerate ATP and NADPH. Photosynthesis depends on an interaction...

...The Calvin Cycle
By: MJ Pineda
The Calvin Cycle is basically a part of photosynthesis where plants take in carbon dioxide and uses ATP and NADPH to make sugars from the CO2 and water for the plant to use or for animals to eat.
It does not require light, and is interestingly called the "dark cycle"
1. The first step of this cycle consists of A carbon atom from carbon dioxide molecule will enter the cycle and joins with a five carbon molecule that is present.
2. The six carbon molecule that results from that compound breaks up into two molecules, each with three carbon atoms.
3. As the reactions in the cycle continue, ATP is dephosphorylated (loses a phosphate) to ADP. The energy that is released is used to raise the energy of the molecules reacting in the cycle.
4. Further energy is supplied by the oxidation of NADPH to NADP.
5. A carbon atom breaks off and is available to be used to make G3P, a high energy molecule that has three carbons. The bonds connecting this carbon atom to hydrogen and carbon are much higher in energy than the original C-O bonds of carbon dioxide. This carbon is left behind as the cycle continues. G3P has three carbons, so it will require three turns of the cycle to provide the necessary carbons to make one molecule of G3P. Since glucose has six carbons, it will take two G3Ps or six turns of the cycle to make one molecule of glucose.
6. The five carbons that remain combine and continue in the cycle....

...CO2 diffuses into the chloroplast and combines with RuBP to form a 6-Carbon sugar. The 6-carbon sugar immediately splits into 2 molecules of PGA. The PGA then takes an H from NADPH and a P from ATP and becomes PGAL. Some PGAL is then converted into glucose, most is used to build more RuBP. 6 turns are necessary for a molecule of glucose.
The light independent reaction takes place in the stroma.
-Equation:
6CO2 + 18ATP + 12NADPH2= C6H12O6 + 18ADP + 18P + 12NADP +6H2O
-Reactants:
ATP
NADPH
Enzymes
CO2
RuBP
-Products
Glucose
ADP+P
NADP+
Alternate Pathways:
-C4 Pathway: fixes carbon dioxide into 4-C compounds. Contains enzymes not inhibited by high carbon dioxide. Requires more energy, but plants are in abundant light. Ex- Corn, sugar cane
-CAM Pathway- plant takes in CO2 at night and stores it. Ex- cacti, pineapple...

...Melvin Purvis, attended the local Thompsonville High School, where he was a two sport athlete and the president of the literary society. (v) He possessed immense poise, and foresight by engaging in activities in which molded him into a leader and a diverse citizen. He spent his time hunting and fishing, activities which taught him to be patient and to never ignore any detail. Mr. Purvis went on to attend The University of South Carolina where he received a law degree in 1925. He also served as Treasurer and Assistant Manager of various clubs and teams. He was a hard working student; his instructors remarked of his "solid qualities." As further proof of his diligence, the Annual Review wrote that there was "no more devoted and faithful student" of law. (NYT 5) After law school, Purvis became an attorney at the most prestigious law firm in Florence, South Carolina. It is here that Mr. Purvis met his future wife, Rosanne Willcox.(v p. 32) Mr. Purvis was unhappy working as a attorney and decided to leave Ms. Willcox behind and move to Washington D.C.(NYT 5) Throughout Mr. Purvis's young adulthood, he was regarded as a well mannered Southern Gentlemen, he was well educated and loyal, yet adventurous.
Melvin Purvis moved to Washington D.C. intending on working for the Department of State. However The Department of State did not have any openings, Consequently, Purvis applied for a job at Federal Bureau of Investigation, where he enrolled in 1926....

...﻿http://www.policymic.com/articles/42731/10-life-lessons-from-calvin-hobbes (as on May 23, 2013)
10 Life Lessons from Calvin and Hobbes
Katie Kirnan in
5 days ago
Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes is a deeply rooted part of our childhood. Richly realized and poignantly written, Watterson’s wistful comic strip always had something to offer: It entertained me on long car rides, expanded my vocabulary (transmogrify, duplicate, intrepid — as in the intrepid Spaceman Spiff), and provided me with comebacks that no one in second grade,including me, understood (“Sinister fiend!”). And unlike other artifacts from my childhood (like my retainers or my misplaced obsession with Lance Bass … boy was I wrong on that one), Calvin and Hobbes has stayed with me through the years, and imparted upon me 10 invaluable life lessons:
1. Make Your Own Rules
Life often doesn’t make sense. Assholes get promoted, the wrong people are pretty, that car never inches far enough into the intersection when making a left, and there’s always that one idiot who hears your hilarious joke and just says it louder. I HATE that guy. But I digress. Life often doesn’t make sense. So whenever life throws you a spitball, just remember Calvinball. Yes, Calvinball, the glorious game with only one rule: You can’t play the same way twice. Much like life, in Calvinball, a lot of things don’t make sense, you have to make up rules as you go, and the score...

...JOHN CALVIN
John Calvin was born in France under the name Jean Cauvin in 1509; his name would be Latinized to Calvinus and then known in the English translation as Calvin. Calvin comes at a time after Martin Luther has already started the movement of the Reformation of Christianity, first blow being Luther’s 95 Thesis in 1517. Calvin would be the secondary figure in this era after Luther, furthering the progress of the Reformation of Christian theology in Europe. He was born in the town of Noyon, France in the French region of Picardy, this region, larger in the time of Calvin, is north of Paris encompassing the parts of France up to the border with current modern-day Belgium containing major cities of Lille, Amiens, and Calais, with Calais being the city in the region just across the Channel from the famous chalk cliffs of Dover, England. John Calvin, the 1st of four sons to survive infancy, was the son of an attorney, Gerard, of decent stature in Noyon and a mother by the name Jeanne le Franc who was from the town of Cambrai where she had been the daughter of a local innkeeper. In history, the man Calvin is synonymous with the religious theology he becomes famous for of Calvinism which is best known for its major part in the creation of early Protestantism along with Martin Luther’s (Lutheran) theology. These Reformed movements rocked a Europe from being...

...On July 10, six days after our own Independence Day, the world will celebrate the birthday of John Calvin, the man most responsible for our American system of liberty based on Republican principles of representative government.
It was Founding Father and the second President of the United States, John Adams, who described Calvin as "a vast genius," a man of "singular eloquence, vast erudition, and polished taste, [who] embraced the cause of Reformation," adding: "Let not Geneva be forgotten or despised. Religious liberty owes it much respect."
Calvin, a humble scholar and convert to Reformation Christianity from Noyon, France, is best known for his influence on the city of Geneva. It was there that his careful articulation of Christian theology as applied to familial, civil, and ecclesiastical authority modeled many of the principles of liberty later embraced by our own Founders, including anti-statism, the belief in transcendent principles of law as the foundation of an ethical legal system, free market economics, decentralized authority, an educated citizenry as a safeguard against tyranny, and republican representative government which was accountable to the people and a higher law.
In time, these ideas were imported to America. Certainly, the cause of American independence did not begin in 1776, but well over a century before as the first settlers arrived. These included the Huguenots of France, the Presbyterians of...